The document provides an overview of Arduino, describing it as an open-source physical computing platform consisting of a programmable integrated circuit board and integrated development environment. It can be used for physical computing projects, interactive installations, and rapid prototyping. The document outlines what Arduino can do, including interacting with sensors to detect inputs and actuators to produce outputs. It explains how to get started with Arduino by obtaining a board, learning the programming language based on C/C++, and uploading simple programs to control outputs like LEDs. A pushbutton example circuit is demonstrated.

2. Overview
What is Arduino?
• What is it used for?
• How to get started
• Demonstration
• Questions are welcome at any time.
Author: Ian Jones (s4052982@student.uq.edu.au)

3. What is Arduino?
• “Arduino is an open-source physical computing platform
based on a simple i/o board and a development
environment that implements the Processing / Wiring
language. Arduino can be used to develop stand-alone
interactive objects or can be connected to software on
your computer.“ ( www.arduino.cc, 2006 )

4. Arduino is a platform
• A physical Input / Output board (I/O) with a programmable
Integrated Circuit (IC).

5. Arduino is a platform
• Also including an Integrated
Development Environment
(IDE) for programming.
• The language itself is based in
C but is largely modeled upon
the www.processing.org
language.

6. What is it used for?
• Physical Computing projects / research
• Interactive Installations
• Rapid prototyping
• When you wish to move beyond the traditional Mouse,
Keyboard and Monitor to develop novel and custom
interactions in your project work.

7. What can it do?
• Sensors ( to sense stuff )
– Push buttons, touch pads, tilt switches.
– Variable resistors (eg. volume knob / sliders)
– Photoresistors (sensing light levels)
– Thermistors (temperature)
– Ultrasound (proximity range finder)
• Actuators ( to do stuff )
– Lights, LED’s
– Motors
– Speakers
– Displays (LCD)

8. Why Arduino?
• It is Open Source, both in terms of Hardware and
Software.
• It is cheap, the hardware can be built from components
or a prefab board can be purchased for approx $35 AUD
• It can communicate with a computer via serial
connection over USB (Bluetooth model coming soon!).
• It can be powered from USB or standalone DC power.

9. Why Arduino?
• It can run standalone from a computer (chip is
programmable) and it has memory (a small amount).
• It can work with both Digital and Analogue electronic
signals. Sensors and Actuators.
• You can make cool stuff! Some people are even making
simple robots, and we all know robots are just cool. 

11. Arduino at INFENV
• It’s early days yet, we are all just learning how to use
them.
• We have a dozen or so Arduino boards available.
• These can be borrowed out for projects, or for self-
directed work.
• Several 3rd
year studio 5 project groups are currently
using them as an integral component of their work.

12. How to get started
• You’ll need a board of course, INFENV has the newest
USB Extreme version, along with the USB cable and DC
power supplies.
• Read about, understand what you are working with and
download the IDE: http://www.arduino.cc
• Mac, Windows and Penguin friendly versions available
• Then you are ready to plug it in!

13. Not so fast!
• It’s important to note at this stage that Arduino’s are
electronic devices.
• This means you MUST consider electrical safety and
understand the basics before diving straight in.
• The board itself doesn’t operate at what would normally
be considered dangerous Voltages or Amperage, but if
in doubt at any stage of use you should seek more
expert advice.

14. Basic Electrical knowledge
• At the moment we don’t have any electrical engineers at
INFENV so we need to do some ground work ourselves.
• A fantastic guide to electronics in theory, practice and of
course safety is available as a PDF at:
http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/electricCircuits/
What you want is Volume 1, DC circuits. This will help
you greatly in understanding how to wire circuits when
using sensors and actuators. (Hint: This kind of research should be
included in academic papers and portfolio reflection)

15. Getting up and running
• The power mode must be selected before you plug the
board into anything.
• When powering from the USB cable (5 volts) the jumper
should be closest to the USB input, for DC supply the
jumper should be closest to the DC input.

17. Getting up and running
• Plug it into the USB port and install the USB drivers that
come with the IDE.
• Open up the Arduino IDE and select the COM port,
usually COM1 or COM2 on a Windows machine.
• Within the IDE, select the BAUD rate (communication
speed for serial connections)
• Set BAUD rate to 19200 on Windows, 9600 for Mac?

18. Upload a program
• For the most basic kind of program you’ll need a simple actuator, an
LED with the long leg (+) pushed into pin 13 and the short leg (-) in
the adjacent ground pin (GND). Pin 13 is special, in the sense that
it has a built in resistor to correctly control the voltage going into a
testing LED just like this.
• At this stage we just want to program the LED to blink on and off at
a set time interval. Sample code for this is available at the Arduino
website.
• Press the reset button on the board and then click ‘Upload to I/O
board’ in the IDE. If all goes well lights should flicker on the board
and the IDE will confirm success.

19. Demonstration
• It’s time for a simple demonstration.

20. Pushbutton Example
• On the following few slides is an example pushbutton circuit using a
pull-up resistor (2.2K)
• The orange wire is in place of a real button, its currently connected
so the button is in the ‘on’ state making a connection.
• The circuit works by running power from the 5V through the 2.2K
resistor (this limits the full 5 volts going straight back into the ground,
which is bad because without the resistor it would overheat). When
the orange wire ‘pushbutton’ is connected the power going to the
digital input drops significantly because the button is redirecting
power through to the ground instead. When the power drops
enough it registers as a ‘LOW’ in the Arduino and we can sense a
button press with our code.

21. Pushbutton Example

22. Pushbutton Example

23. Pushbutton Example

24. Conclusion
• There’s heaps more to explore, I’ve barely scratched the
surface of what you can really do with this technology.
• Make it happen. If you want to use an Arduino in your
project you’ll have to be proactive about it and do the
research yourself. It really isn’t hard, just get stuck in.
• Use the website and associated forum for tutorials, code
samples and general help:
www.arduino.cc

25. Thank you